I’ve known since the Blazing World strips that Nicholle would be returning for this. Sending her on fantastic travelogues is just too much fun. It also allows me to put a semi-original spin on a topic that – let’s face it – has been covered a thousand times over by other people. Gulliver’s Travels is one of the most well-known books in the English language, and most people know the gist of its story without ever having read it. The first quarter of the book, featuring the Lilliputians, is particularly famous, and has been parodied in popular culture too many times to count.
I’ll admit, I’m mostly familiar with the TV mini-series from 1996 staring Ted Danson. It’s a shockingly good film, and completely covers all four parts of the book, not just “the famous bits.” It also manages to retain a lot of the satirical elements that are key to Swift’s work, pointedly criticizing politics and modern society. Happily, it’s also on Netflix Instant Watch. Perhaps I’ll watch it again later this week…
Oh, and technically, the title of this book is Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships. This actually makes it one of those books that actually exists within its own fictional reality, since it was “written” by Gulliver himself. It’s not unlike the Holmes stories “written” by Dr. John Watson, or like a certain webcomic we all enjoy.
A telescope with a mouse in it!
Ah, yes. One of the books I had to read for HS English class. (I’d argue about needing to change the name of the class to “Literature,” but that’s the class where people actually learn the in and outs of the language. Za? O_o )
My only complaint with your comic depiction is that it’s a tad difficult to tell who is specifically speaking, in the last panel especially. ^^;
It’s a side-effect of the awkward staging that was somewhat unavoidable. I could point the balloons at the little people without covering up part of Nicholle.
Whew finished catching up (4 or 5 days). While I admit that I am unfamiliar with many I’d the books and stories you’ve done I still find the comic very awesome. Keep up the great work
Thanks! I do make an effort to make the comics funny whether or not you’ve actually read the work in question.
When I was an English Lit student, many years ago, my professor described Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World as the first modern-style novel… I later discovered that it bears a number of distinct similarities to The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, from about 350 years earlier, including the fact that at the time of publication, most readers thought they were real travelogues, and that both authors hid their identity behind a fictitious first person account.
I’m not sure which one is more absurd, really… talking horses who keep herds of bestial ape-men, or an island of dog-headed men and a tribe that gets nourishment just from the smell of apples… in the end, I think Sir John gave me more laughs than Lemuel, although probably not as many laughs per page. (Mandeville’s story is much longer.)
If you’ve never heard of Mandeville, I highly recommend checking Project Gutenberg or another free online copy of it: it’s some of the most brilliant bullshit in the history of English literature (even if it’s Anglo-Norman).
Pffft~ Heh heh heh. Nice instalment. ^^
You know, I seem to recall there being a story about Gulliver’s wife, following her husband’s travels. Oh, dear. It was a naughty story, wasn’t it?
Don’t forget the nice book called “There and Back Again,” more commonly known to us outside Middle Earth as “The Hobbit.”